Critical habitat between the Andes and the Amazon Basin faces deforestation and the unique, deadly threat of active landmines.
-
Species at Risk
White-bellied Spider Monkey (EN), Andean Bear (VU), Margay (NT), Jaguar (NT)
-
Carbon stored
11,357,942*
*(metric tons of CO2 equivalents) -
Partner
The HALO Trust and Amazon Conservation Team (ACT)
-
44,000 Proposed Acres Conserved by
Designation
-
Project Cost: $1,067,129
44,000
Critical habitat between the Andes and the Amazon Basin faces deforestation and the unique, deadly threat of active landmines.
-
Species at Risk
White-bellied Spider Monkey (EN), Andean Bear (VU), Margay (NT), Jaguar (NT)
-
Carbon stored
11,357,942*
*(metric tons of CO2 equivalents) -
Partner
The HALO Trust and Amazon Conservation Team (ACT)
-
44,000 Proposed Acres Conserved by
Designation
-
Project Cost: £790,465
44,000
Highlights:
- The La Macarena conservation corridor in Colombia supports thousands of species that face immediate dangers from deforestation and active landmines.
- Rainforest Trust will support The HALO Trust and Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) to clear landmines and work with local communities to create Indigenous Reserves over 44,000 acres.
- The Indigenous Reserves will connect to three national parks, adding to protection across 2.7 million acres for threatened species like the Endangered White-bellied Spider Monkey.
Thousands of species rely on the La Macarena conservation landscape, a key corridor in Colombia that lies between the Andes Mountains and the Amazon Basin. Local communities have worked for years to preserve this landscape, yet conservation has remained out of reach. Along with the persistent threat of deforestation, wildlife and people here face the unique danger of active landmines that remain in the forest after decades of armed conflict.
We have a first-of-its-kind opportunity to clear mines from this landscape and support Indigenous Peoples in securing permanent legal protection of their territories. We will support The HALO Trust and Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) in their work toward formal recognition of Sol Naciente (41,000 acres) and Nuevo Milenio (3,000) as Indigenous Reserves.
Header photo: Vulnerable Spectacled Bear, also known as the Andean Bear © Burdos
The La Macarena conservation landscape sustains
species of flora and fauna.
Explore La Macarana
Endangered White-bellied Spider Monkey © Helge Zabka
Margay © Luciana Smania
Jaguar © Gustavo Fonseca
Endangered White-bellied Spider Monkey © Juerginho
Close the Gap for Expanded Protection
The area’s intact ecosystems will fill an important gap in protection between three national parks. When this gap is filled, protection will extend across 2.7 million acres of habitat for thousands of species. The broader landscape sustains more than 12,000 recorded species, including the Endangered White-bellied Spider Monkey and Vulnerable Andean Bear, as well as the Neotropical Otter, Margay, and Jaguar.
With our support, HALO will conduct community-based mapping, surveys, and landmine clearance, while ACT will provide legal, social, and technical support for the designation process. This type of cross-discipline collaboration reflects an innovative approach that is increasingly necessary for conservation in complicated landscapes.
Support Indigenous Management and Stewardship
Through the designation of Indigenous Reserves, people living within the protected area will maintain their traditional stewardship practices while preventing deforestation driven by illegal logging, coca cultivation, mining, and external colonization pressures. The Sol Naciente and Nuevo Milenio communities are home to approximately 80 families of Nasa and Misak descent who have been pursuing permanent legal protection of their territories for more than 10 years.
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Conservation work is critical, challenging, and can be costly. We work hard to ensure we raise only the funds needed for each project. In the rare case we raise more money than needed or a project comes in under budget, excess monies will be transferred to the Conservation Action Fund. This fund supports our important conservation work throughout the tropics.
Project Modifications
Rainforest Trust conducts extensive research and due diligence on each of the projects that we support, so that once a project is offered for public support we believe it will succeed. We work closely with our project implementers, offer support, and regularly monitor their progress. Given the nature of the work, projects may not progress exactly as intended and may be unable to meet all objectives. To respond dynamically to the needs of our project implementers and the realities of the landscapes in which they operate, Rainforest Trust expressly reserves the right to modify a project as it deems necessary, provided that donor intent is honored by ensuring that that the original project objectives are diligently pursued and that project funds continue to benefit the landscape and species identified in the project overview. Project modifications that we may need to make in certain circumstances include the specific project implementer, the size of the landscape to be protected, the type of protection to be afforded to the landscape, and the development of sustainability mechanisms.
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